Chapter 17: 17

Red Haired Mage (1)

When he came to the Guild House, the person who wanted to scout Ryu Han-bin was already waiting for him.

“Are you Eric Garoon?”

“Yeah.”

The man was roughly in his mid-20s. His skin was as bright and smooth as porcelain. He was a handsome young man with red hair and red eyes that shone like rubies. He was wearing a red robe and holding a staff studded with red crystals. At a glance, he could easily be identified as a wizard.

‘He seems to love the color red.’

The young man glanced up and down at Ryu Han-bin who was deep in thought.

“You certainly look strong and big enough.”

He said after surveying Han-bin.

“I am Artis Venister, a level 36 Mage. Eric Garoon, I want to officially hire you.”

* * *

Artis’s destination was said to be in the catalysts were needed to study new magic, and some materials could only be obtained from native monsters that lived deep inside the Satt Forest.

Unlike dungeons that generated a solid profit from scavenging Devil’s Spirit Stones, hunting native monsters weren’t popular. If anyone needed research materials, they had to pay large sums of money to purchase them from the Mage Guild. Otherwise, they would need to go directly to the source and loot the materials themselves.

“There is nothing difficult about hunting on my own, but it’s hard to carry the collected materials. They’re so bulky and heavy.”

Han Bin smiled bitterly at Artis’s words.

“As expected.”

He was hired as a porter, not a fellow hunter to fight side-by-side with. Buckman accepted Ryu Han-bin to develop his beginner skills to make him useable as a team member and a porter, but what Artis wanted was a pure porter.

“Why didn’t you just hire a handyman? Why me?”

“I went to the Civil Engineering Guild first. Everyone in there recommended you. What did they call you again? The God of manual labor?”

“Is that so?”

Ryu Han-bin’s reputation in the Civil Engineering Guild had certainly resonated quite a lot.

“I am in charge of the battle. All you have to do is carry the luggage. I will pay 100X per day considering the risk.”

That was a fair sum. That was much more than the money he earned in the Civil Engineering Guild.

“You’re quite generous.”

There was something strange about the offer. If he was an ordinary human, no matter how much money he was going to earn, he wouldn’t trust a single mage in a forest filled with monsters. However, it was an offer that Han-bin couldn’t reject.

Satt Forest’s monsters weren’t even a match to him. He immediately agreed.

“I’ll do it. It’s daily billing, right?”

Artis rose from his seat.

“Then let’s start right away.”

He continued to talk as he walked towards the Guild’s doors.

“Don’t worry, Eric. I will take responsibility and protect you. You will never be put in danger.”

* * *

Four days after leaving from Onpros City, the duo finally reached Satt Forest.

Having grasped the locations of the necessary monsters’ habitats in advance, Artis went on hunting through the forest without delay. Ryu Han-bin just followed him closely.

It wasn’t long before a group of monsters rushed through the giant trees.

Grrrrrrr!!

Kaah!

It was a group of two-headed gray wolves. Ryu Han-bin hid behind a tree and checked their information.

[Race: Howling Wolf. Lv. 18]

Their levels didn’t pose a threat to Artis, a Level 36 Mage. He handled them with ease.

“Binding! Hold Object! Mass Wind Cutter!”

He tied their feet with magically binding shackles and held their heads in the air with the Hold Object spell. Through the wind blades of his spell, he decapitated their heads one by one. The Howling Wolves’ eyeballs were one of the materials he needed; hence he took great care not to damage the head.

After killing the monster, Artis looked back to check on Han-bin.

“Did you get hurt?”

“No.”

“Good.”

Han-bin felt it was absurd.

‘Isn’t he too overprotective?’

Whenever a monster appeared, he would tell Han-bin to hide. In case he might be attacked by a monster from behind, he also gave him stealth magic. There was no way to get hurt. Artis spoke in a haughty tone as if he had read Han-bin’s expression.

“I promised to take responsibility for your safety, Eric. I have to keep my promises.”

He then began to dig out the eyeballs of the fallen Howling Wolves.

It required careful hand movements, so Ryu Han-bin, a stranger to magic, wasn’t allowed to help harvest the materials.

Han-bin was puzzled and continued watching from afar.

“Isn’t he a surprisingly good person?”

Artis had a cold expression, and his tone of speech was high, causing Han-bin to think his personality would be quite rude, but it different from what he expected. Artis did not forget to be considerate to Ryu Han-bin during the whole journey. Whenever they had to battle against monsters, he became attentive towards Han-bin.

“Is he the kind of person who’s not good at expressing himself?”

Artis beckoned to Han-bin.

“Let’s go to the next target. Follow me.”

‘I’m sure I’ll get cocky if I see someone else call me using only with his finger.’

Well, there was no particular reason for him to care. His relationship with Artis would end after the contract anyway. After picking up the backpack, Ryu Han-bin did as instructed.

“Yes, I’m coming. I’m right behind you.”

* * *

They had been wandering through the woods for quite some time already. Ryu Han-bin’s backpack had become so thick due to all the ingredients Artis had gathered. Its weight already surpassed that of a normal person’s. Even the blunt Artis seemed a little worried.

“Are you okay? It must be heavy.”

“It’s not a problem.”

The bags of dirt, stones, and boulders that he carried during his hard labor were several times heavier than what he was carrying now.

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“You’re really strong.”

After expressing his admiration, Artis looked around. The forest had already grown dark. The setting sun’s light could barely penetrate through the thick leaves of the trees.

“I’ll finish my hunt here for today. Let’s find a safe place and get ready for the camp.”

In places that were infested with monsters, such as the Satt Forest, it was important to carefully choose a campsite.

“Where can we find such a place…”

Mumbling, Artis continued to search around.

After a while, he began to frown.

“Well?”

On the other side of the forest was a mountain cottage enclosed by fences. It looked like a normal hunter hut, but the location was strange. Humans didn’t go that deep into the Satt Forest. Not to mention the structure was in a really poor state. Overall, the fences were too loose to be man-made.

“That’s unusual. We’ll have to check it out.”

Artis approached the cottage cautiously. Han-bin also followed from behind. Instead of barging right in from the front, they went around the mountain cottage and headed for higher ground where they could observe it as they hid behind the trees.

They were able to roughly grasp the situation from where they were. Monsters with wild, dog-like heads and monkey-like bodies loitered around in the hut. They numbered around thirty.

Surprised by the situation, Artis mumbled a word under his breath.

“Kobolds?”

Although Kobolds were monsters, they were capable of using tools due to their high intelligence, which could mean that they built the cottage themselves. They weren’t a big threat to advanced hunters like Artis since they were low-level monsters.

However, Artis had a serious look on his face.

Kobolds weren’t native monsters of Latna. They only existed in dungeons.

“How did those dungeon monsters get there?”

Han-bin, unable to fully comprehend the situation, replied nonchalantly.

“They probably ran away from a nearby dungeon.”

“There are no dungeons nearby.”

There were no dungeons in the depths of Satt Forest, and those who came out of the dungeons in the Plains were unlikely to get there. They would’ve been annihilated by the native monsters of the Satt Forest before they could get to where they were. The native monsters’ levels were much higher.

“It looks like a new, unknown dungeon has appeared in the Satt Forest.”

Only then did Han-bin understand the situation. The Kobolds weren’t the problem. If they kept a new dungeon open and unattended for a long time, stronger monsters would start pouring out. It could become a big problem. Artis, who had been thinking for a while, made a rather aggressive decision.

“I can’t just leave them alone.”

“Are you going to hunt them?”

“Yes.”

He thought of subjugating them first and leaving only a few Kobolds alive for interrogation. After finding out the location of the new dungeon, he’d be able to report it to the Mage Guild.

“It’s not a big deal. It can’t be that dangerous since it’s only a few Kobolds. However, it’s going to be hard to protect you, Eric.”

Even a Kobold could be life-threatening for a level 5 Swordsman.

“If you hide around here for a while, I will take care of them myself. No, it would be more dangerous to be left alone in a forest like this.”

After a while, Artis made a decision.

“It would be better to move together. I can fight thirty Kobolds while keeping you safe.”

Ryu Han-bin wasn’t in danger regardless of the situation. He would’ve preferred if he was left alone to fight since he’d be able to use his strength as much as he wanted without worrying about getting caught. However, he had no reason to object. He simply nodded in response.

“Okay. I’ll do as you say.”

Artis took the lead.

“Then I’ll go. Stay at least three or four steps behind me.”

The two began to approach the Kobolds’ mountain cottage.

* * *

Artis’s voice thundered through the forest.

“Staring Flash, Ray of Flame!”

A ray of hot wire flew towards the cottage and hit the wooden fences before exploding, causing waves of heat to scatter all over the broken-down building.

Guaaaaargh!

Surprised, the Kobolds began to escape out of the hut with their weapons in their hands.

“Grrrrr!”

“Attack!”

“It’s the enemy!”

As the fences burned down, two men appeared through the red flames. Artis, who took the lead, continued to cast his magic by swinging in the air.

“Lightning Arrow!”

Four lightning arrows flew through the air and hit the Kobolds.

“Kek! Kaaaargh!”

Those who were hit were mercilessly electrocuted to death. The difference in level was far too tremendous for the Kobolds to even have the chance to fight back. Regardless, the Kobolds did not withdraw.

“Krr! Kaargh!”

“Waa-wa-waaa”

They growled to the fullest and raised their spears to surround their enemy.

“You stupid monsters!”

Laughing, Artis lifted his crystal staff.

“Storm, Blow! Wind Wall!”

He temporarily blocked the paths of the monsters by creating a wall of wind in front of them, then immediately continued his barrage.

“Ice Arrow!”

A gelid arrow flashed through the ranks of the Kobolds, causing more of them to despair.

“Keeeeeeekh!”

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Without being able to resist against Artis’s magic, the Kobolds fell to their deaths one after another. There was no way to escape because of the wooden barrier around them. It didn’t take long before the entire group of Kobolds except for two was eliminated.

Artis grinned as he captured the remaining Kobolds with binding magic.

“We need to get information out of them to find out the location of the new dungeon.”

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